The Swap-Alex Chase and the Quest for Eternity
by OnAngelWings
Summary: Sequel to Penny Jackson and the Master of Magic. Chaos has returned-and so have our heroes. But can a son of Athena outwit a Primordial-or a named blade? And then there's Garden of Eternity to worry about- a loosed dragon may never return...Alex Chase has never seen this much demigodly trouble in one place. Thank the gods he has some help. Gender-swap AU.
1. Chapter 1-Pegasus Ride Part Two

**A/N Hi! I'm using my new word processor-lets hope this ends well. (the last one's autocorrect tried to replace 'knife' with 'bikini'. As you may have seen, I changed the title of this one a bit...but just a bit. Are you ready because...Chapter one of Quest for Eternity! YAY! Let's get started!**

**Chapter 1: Pegasus Ride Part Two**

"Alex? Some help over here!" Penny yelled above the noise. She blasted the Chimaera in front of her with another sphere of blue magic, but it just howled and snapped at her again. Meanwhile, I was slashing at the one in front of me with nothing but a bronze knife.

"Kind of busy!" I yelled back. "You may want to take a more traditional approach with that thing."

"Oh yeah, -"

She swore a blue streak and I pretended not to notice. "Penny, USE A FREAKING SWORD."

Just as the Chimaera tried to bite my hand off. I wrenched upwards, pushing the knife through the roof of its mouth. It dissolved into yellow dust. Penny had evidently taken my advice, because I heard a howl from hers and then monster sand fell on top off me.

Chiron had decided that since as of right now, there were no quests that needed to be done, both Penny and I should be sent out for recruitment duty with the others. Which, of course, meant battling monsters that had come to attack other kids instead of letting the kid figure it out themselves, like we did in the good old days, when kids thought, hey, this is weird while they were being mauled by a Hydra.

Grover emerged from the school, dragging a boy and a girl by their elbows. "Thank gods you two showed up." He said. "I couldn't have gotten them all out fast enough."

"No problem." I said, opening my backpack and fishing out a square of ambrosia. Breaking it in half, I gave some to Penny and put the rest in my own mouth. Instantly the cuts and bruises began to fade away. Penny turned her sword back into a bracelet. "Hi. I'm Penny, this is Alex, you've already met Grover, and now we're getting on a Pegasus. Okay?"

The girl began to protest but Penny cut her off. "Escape now, ask questions later."

"You may not want to annoy a kid with a sword." I muttered.

The girl crossed her arms. "Why?"

"Last time I rode one of those with Penny, she ended up knocking me off." I smiled at the girl's horrorstruck expression.

Some pegasi flew in about three minutes later. I climbed on the back of one, Penny getting up behind me. "You're not going to knock me off this time, right?" I ask, smiling.

She pretended to think about it. "Nah, too much work."

I looked over my shoulder-the girl and boy were on one together(both terrified) and Grover got one all to himself. "Not cool, man." I yelled at him.

And we were off.

"Who are they?" Penny asked Grover.

"Hana-" he pointed to the brown-haired girl in the back of the pegasus "is probably another Aphrodite or something. We pick up a lot of those these days. But Eli-" the black-haired boy in front "he's something else, man. I think he might be a Big Three kid."

"Which one?"

He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Hades."

We were silent the rest of the way to camp.

Once we got there, Grover dismounted first, and faced the new kids nervously. "Hana, Eli, welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

"What?" Eli asked.

"You've read the Greek myths, right?" Both nodded. "So, it turns out that all of them are real. And the gods sometimes come down to earth and..well.." I faltered here, hoping they'd put it together on their own. I was not so lucky.

"They have kids." Penny said bluntly. "You're demigods. Deal with it."

"Penny!" Grover and I hissed.

"What?"

A girl from Apollo came over and led Eli off, while a boy from Hephaestus took Hana.

"Way to ease them into it, Penny." Grover said, exasperated. She raised her hands.

"Hey, I just started with this. How am I supposed to know?"

"Did you read the handbook?"

"Handbook?" Penny and I echoed.

Grover sighed and walked off. Penny turned to me as I began walking to the Athena cabin.

"Can you believe it? Another child of the Big Three at camp. Dylan will be happy, he's got hardly anyone to fight with."

"He's got all of the experienced campers." I pointed out. Dylan was the son of Zeus we had rescued from 'alteration' in the Chaos Camp only last year. He had already mastered most of the sword training but had nobody except for some of the more powerful Hecates to compete with on a magical power level. Which, of course, meant I had to spend many long afternoon refereeing matches between him and Penny.

"But it also means that you can stop refereeing." Penny said with a smirk.

"FINALLY!" I yelled.

Someone tapped Penny on the shoulder- her half-brother, Scott. "Penny, Alex, Chiron needs to see you at the Big House."

"When?"

"Now."

We looked at each other, and then began running. I beat her there, whooping with exhilaration. Penny put her hands on her knees and breathed. "Show off." She muttered.

One of the Big House doors opened and Chiron beckoned us inside. His face was troubled. Hunter was already seated at the conference table.

"Was there anyone else concerned with the Chaos quest last year?"

"The kids we brought back, but not all of them would be able to come in here at once. Why?" I asked.

Chiron turned one of the other chairs around. In it was a gagged and tied up Isabelle Nikomedes. Hunter drew in a sharp breath.

"Why is she here?" Penny asked nervously.

"I don't know. The border patrol caught her by Terence's tree last night. But that's not all." He placed three silver knives on the table. "She was carrying these."

I gingerly picked up one of the knives. It was plain and simple, the way I liked a weapon- dull silver lade with a black leather handle, perfectly balanced for a throwing knife. I ran my finger over the flat- and froze. Retracing the rout my finger had just gone on.

There were two words inscribed on it in some twirly font.

_Alex Chase._

"The blades have been named." Chiron whispered. "And a named blade must find its target."

I heard a faint gasp as Penny slumped to the floor.

**A/N So it's a year later and we are finding out more about the dream Penny had in Chapter 18! Oh, and Disclaimer Number Two: the idea of the named blade came from Angie Sage's Septimus Heap, not the dark recesses of my brain. Please read and review, and see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2-The Prophecy

**A/N Hey! SO my mom let me get a bagel and a green tea, and I was so happy that….second chapter of this one…eeee! I'm excited. Are you ready? Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, or House of Hades would be out now. **

**Chapter 2: The Prophecy  
**

The infirmary was cold- a slight draft ran through me, making me shiver even more. Penny lay still in the bed, a small knot forming on her forehead where she fell.

On the nightstand were two of the three knives- mine and Penny's.

I stood over them, looking at my reflection in the silver, running my fingers over the metal again. Penny's said Penelope. Funny.

But why didn't mine say Alexander, then? I shook my head. It was bad enough that I had a named blade, and I shouldn't be worrying about the fact that they hadn't even bothered to name my blade right.

"Alex?"

Penny stirred. Her eyes were still shut. "Did Anna let you in again? Because I told her that maybe in emergencies-" her eyes shot open, the brilliant green irises searching my face for something. "What's the emergency?" She began struggling to sit up, but I gently pushed her back down.

"Penny, there's no emergency. You're in the infirmary."

"That's not an emergency?"

"You fainted in the Big House. After seeing these." I held out her knife. Her face went white.

"Oh." She whispered, taking the knife.

"Why did you freak out?"

"Because." She took a deep breath and set the knife down. "Alex, remember the day we got back to camp after the quest? When you visited me in the Hecate cabin?"

"Yeah."

"I was having a nightmare. I was walking through a forest in the middle of the night….."

I listened as she related her nightmare. She had known about the named blade? "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I didn't think it was important. But-wait, now that we have the blade, doesn't that mean that it's found its target?"

"I wish. The target is to kill, not to keep. The only way you could get rid of one of these is by burning it in Celestial fire, and you can hardly ever find that anymore."

"So….we're screwed."

I sighed. "You got it."

"Why do you think Hunter was the one in my dream?"

A feeling of dread settled over me as I remembered what Chiron had told me to do after Penny woke up. "I don't know, but I have to go find out." I said, getting up.

"What?"

"Guess who gets to meet with the Oracle?"

She made a face and closed her eyes again. "Good luck, Wise Boy."

"Thanks, Sparks."

I walked out of the infirmary and back to the Big House. Taking a breath, I pulled open the trapdoor to the attic.

_Hello, Alexander Chase. _The Oracle's voice filled my head.

"You know my question, Oracle." I asked shakily. "Now answer me."

She opened her mouth, and spoke.

_Take the world by light and death_

_The battle ends when the seven are left_

_Raise the wars into the sky_

_To find the one who does not die_

_The victor tortured by evils' dark kiss_

_and the endless chasm fade into the mist_

She slumped back, and the prophecy was over.

* * *

"Tell me again. What-_exactly_-did she say?"

"Take the world by light and death- listen, do I really need to repeat it again?" I asked crossly

Penny sighed. "I keep forgetting."

"Well, write it down then. Or go ask old mummy herself." I pointed to the Big House, and Penny's face turned pale. "I'll get some paper."

I laughed.

Hunter turned his knife over in his hands, hand covering everything but Nikomedes. The one who ponders victory. In the fading light, his eyes were more black than green. He slipped it into a black sheath near his waist- the fit was slightly off, and the point bulged out of the leather, nearly tearing a hole. It bothered me, but now was not the time for OCD. No.

Penny began humming something and tapping stuff out on her leg. "We plan tomorrow?" She said, yawning. It was late afternoon, and she had just gotten out of the infirmary.

"Tell Anna that I'm allowed in tomorrow." I said, smiling. Hunter looked at me, confused. "What?"

"She won't let me into the Hecate Cabin. Anna keeps me out."

"Nice, Penny." Hunter laughed.

"Bye, guys." She called over her shoulder. Hunter got up and left too, leaving me in the commons area by the sputtering fire. I got up too and went back to my cabin, reading until dark. Then I passed out.

When I woke up, it wasn't to the nice sound of the breakfast conch. It was to screams, the smell of smoke, and red flickering in and out of my vision through the window.

I was on my feet, bronze knife in hand before I was even fully awake.

Only later, I realized that the silver knife-the named knife- was missing.

**A/N GASP! Where is the silver knife? What's up with the fire? And is my prophecy okay, because I've never written one before and had to keep using Google to find rhymes? :) Please read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3-A Predictable Answer

**A/N GUESS WHO SAW THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS-CITY OF BONES MIDNIGHT PREMIERE! THIS GIRL! OHMYGODOHMYGOD I ONLY GOT THREE HOURS OF SLEEP LAST NIGHT AND I THOUGHT, HEY MAYBE THE PEOPLE WHO READ MY STORIES WOULD ACTUALLY LIKE TO KNOW IF I'M ALIVE SO….CHAPTER THREE! DISCLAIMER: I don't know if Rick Riordan went to see City of Bones, but I'm relatively sure he didn't while wearing a black shirt with the angelic power rune on the back. Because it's a girl's shirt.**

**Chapter 3: A Predictable Answer  
**

"RAAAARRRGGGHHHH!" the _thing_ howled.

The only reason I say _thing _and not whatever specific monster it is would be because I had absolutely no idea what it was. Its scales were anywhere from midnight-blue specked with white to pitch black, and its eyes glowed silver. It would probably have been the coolest specimen ever to dissect and study, but right now it was kicking my butt.

It snarled again, this time snorting out a cloud of steam that I just barely jumped out of the way of. In my head, a thousand possible species were being examined, but nothing came close to this.

Well, my brain reasoned, at least it doesn't breathe fire. Steam isn't that bad, right?

And I thought I was right, until I saw all the campers inside of the pale blue mist cloud simultaneously collapse. Carly Beckendorf, who had been standing behind me, gasped and fell over. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and I shut my mouth and held my breath.

Crap.

The _thing_ lunged at me, black claws outstretched. I yelled and slashed out with my knife, but it bounced off of the _thing _with no effect, bar three white sparks flying off. Just before the_ thing_ came in for the kill, a green-gold globe of light surrounded all of the remaining campers.

Penny was behind me, arms up, dragon bracelet glowing. "Isn't that fancy schmancy ring of yours supposed to be doing this for me?" she asked semi-casually, trying to keep the strain out of her voice. It was difficult to maintain gold level magic for any Hecate, and while she had built up some resistance from using it on our quest, she was still having trouble.

I activated my ring and a gray undertone highlighted the green-gold. The yellow seeped out of it and the color returned to Penny's face. She brushed some black hair out of her eyes and fixed me with her bright green eyes, glittering mischievously. "Why is it that half the time I'm saving your life?"

"Because the other half of the time, I'm saving yours." I said.

I'm sure she would have retorted, but the _thing _chose that moment to become a battering ram and slam itself into the shield. I jabbed my thumb at it. "What the Hades is that thing?"

"It looks like a dragon."

I shook my head. "Dragons have more distinct markings around their ears and nose. If anything, this is a drakon- but which one, I'm not sure."

The _thing _slammed itself into the gray light again, and this time, at all the contact points, green flares pulsed. Penny shrugged. "Reinforcement. The whole thing would break in five seconds otherwise."

"Ah." I clapped my hands. "Let's begin planning."

It took me precisely four minutes and twenty-one seconds to formulate a plan that would allow us to safely remove the drakon without further injuring anyone. Penny added extra force to the forcefield while the Ares kids prepared for anything that might go wrong (but it wouldn't) and Anna from Hecate slipped out unseen to get the final piece of my plan. She was back carrying the branch from the Hypnos cabin, carefully avoiding the drops of Lethe falling to the ground.

I took the branch, closed my eyes, and shut down the force field.

The thing roared, but before it could do any more damage, I waved the branch in front of its nose. It fell over, asleep.

The Apollo medics who were left swooped in with stretchers, and a handful of campers were left. WE all stood there, staring at the drakon.

"It's the Hesperidian Drakon."

Hunter came up beside Penny, sneaking her a glance. "The one from the Garden?"

"He used to keep the Golden Apples of Hera safe." There was a quiver in his voice. "Now all that's there are the nymphs."

"And the Titan." I said, not wanting to feel left out of the knowledge-fest.

"And the Titan." Hunter agreed.

A bell began to clang from somewhere inside the Big House. All three of us groaned.

"I. Hate. Counselor. Meetings." Penny whined.

"For once, I agree with you." I said, trying not to think about what came next- an hour or more of talking about the monster we just defeated.

"Race you all there?" Hunter suggested.

"GO!"

We began to sprint to the Big House, shrieking and pushing each other and whooping. But all the while a sense of apprehension was growing within me. How did the Hesperidian Drakon get into Camp Half-Blood?

Even worse-why did it leave the Garden of Eternity?

* * *

"Campers: as you are all aware, we have just been attacked by a drakon."

I rolled my eyes. No way, I hadn't noticed!

"What you may not be aware of is this: The mist that the drakon breathed was a carrier."

I sat up straighter in my chair. The room had gone deadly quiet.

"It is a disease the medics call the Fog. The Fog is characterized by a deep coma for up to one or two months, as long as it takes to get all of the mist out of their system. And the only cure is from the Hesperidean Gardens themselves; the Golden Apples. I will be authorizing a quest which will leave in one week. Are there any volunteers?"

Cain from Ares raised his hand. Karl from Demeter raised his hand. And then I raised my hand.

Chiron swallowed. "We'll put it to a draw."

Someone wrote out all three names and put them on the table. Chiron closed his eyes and picked up a slip.

The words sounded like they were choking him on the way out. "Alexander Chase."

A strange flood of relief and cold flooded through me. Chiron continued. "I suggest you take one person from Demeter, for their knowledge of the Garden of Eternity, and you may choose the other companion."

I already knew who it was.

And what her answer would be.

So I wasn't at all surprised when I knocked on the door of the Hecate Cabin at ten o'clock the next day to have it opened by Anna, who said, "Her answer is no." and shut the door in my face.

"Oh, come on, Penny!"

**A/N I AM SO TIRED RIGHT NOW I'VE LITERALLY BEEN RUNNING ON NOTHING BUT WILLPOWER AND A BLUEBERRY MUFFIN SINCE ABOUT SIX THIS MORNING I THINK I'M GONNA GO SLEEP OK THANKS BYE. OH WAIT-PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

**AND TO MY FELLOW SHADOWHUNTERS WHO SAW THE MOVIE- They're not cops, and it doesn't matter how they got the stinking car.**


	4. Chapter 4-Raindrops and An Explosion

**A/N HEY! So, I finished HoH (and am now the unofficial lending library of the single copy in my possession) and then a few days ago, i saw someone had posted a new review and I was like 'oh crap I haven't posted a new chapter yet' so...yeah! Thank all the guest reviewers for kicking my lazy butt to get writing again. Here we are, with (maybe?) the start of a new quest. DISCLAIMER: IF I WAS RICK RIORDAN...WELL, I'M NOT.**

Chapter 4. Raindrops and An Explosion

Two hours. That's how long it took Penny to come to her senses. That, and a lot of cajoling, reasoning, and messages tied to rocks and thrown in windows, since nobody in there would open the door (actually they couldn't open the door; in a fit of frustration, Penny melted the lock into itself).

Finally, after she decided that she would go on the quest, there was the problem of getting out of the Hecate cabin. My idea? Climb out the window.

Her idea? Shout 'Duck' at me then blow up the door.

Penny stepped out of the front door– well, the hole where the front door was. The black stones that made the cabin glowed and buzzed with energy, and the gold writing grew brighter, then suddenly dimmed. A shock absorber.

"Alright. Who else? We can only take a group of three, remember."

"I know."

"Just making sure, Wise Boy." She smiled, clapping her hands together. The dragon bracelet clattered around her wrist.

"Shut up, Sparks." This earned me a punch in the arm.

"Oww..."

"Come on!You're an Athena. Isn't your motto 'Strategy is our specialty'?"

I looked at her, bemused. "Since when does any cabin have a motto?"

"Hecate's is 'We are the bomb'. Can you guess why?"

"No." I deadpanned. She grinned. "Who's our three, then?"

"I was thinking a Demeter– Kai, or maybe Elise?"

She nodded. "I'd say Kai. Elise hates me– remember, I accidentally landed the flaming chariot on her strawberry patch?"

"What?"

"Nothing..." Penny covered her mouth. "How do you not know about that?"

I shrugged. "So have we made our decision?"

"What about Hunter?" Penny suddenly asked.

"I...I really don't know. Chiron told us to take a Demeter, not a Tyche."

She stared at me, jaw slack. I started. "You can't be that terribly upset about it if he doesn' come."

"No, but I just heard an Athea say 'I don't know."

I chased her, screaming, all the way to the Big House.

A few hours later, I was mostly packed and ready to go. Kai was our official third, but he didn't know and Penny was busy packing, so I couldn't bother her about this.

The named blade? Yeah, it was gone.

Which meant I was in mortal danger from some evil Chaosite who was biding their time at Camp Half-Blood. (Is it even mortal danger if you're half god?)

I shook my head. The person wasn't Penny, I knew that. Kai doesn't know about the whole 'named blade and we're probably going to die' situation. And even if he wanted to know, I probably wouldn't tell him. That leavers one person...Hunter.

Hunter?

Okay, yes. I know he was a Chaosite. I know he was supposed to be the one who led the quest to their doom. But he betrayed them so that we could survive, and rescue the others.

I opened the door to the Athena cabin and slipped outside.

The autumn air was cool and crisp, a slight chill tickling my arms and making me shiver. I could see sheets of rain pummeling the area around camp and wished that there was no rain barrier (for about the millionth time.) The last time I had felt a raindrop was on the quest, after we exploded...something. There were a lot of explosions on that quest (mostly caused by a certain daughter of Hecate.)

Walking fast, the journey to the Tyche cabin took no time at all. I knocked, and one of Hunter's siblings opened the door. "Hey Alex."

"Hi. Could I talk to Hunter, please?"

"Hunter!" The boy called back into the room.

The boy was replaced by hunter, his pale hand drumming out a pattern on the doorframe. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for the quest?"

"Been there, done that. Listen, I've got a problem."

Hunter sighed When I had finished telling him what had happened.

"Let me get this straight. You don't have the knife."

"Gone." I clarified.

"And someone does have it-"

"-presumably with malicious intent."

The other boy closed his eyes for a brief moment. "That means there's probably a Chaosite in this camp."

My stomach turned.

Hunter's face was a mask of calm. "Alex, we need to tell Chiron."

It made sense, I guess. Telling a super-wise horse guy that someone stole the knife that's been destined to kill you. But something is side of me said no.

"Don't."

"What?" Hunter sounded surprised.

"Don't tell Chiron. He'll never let me go on the quest, and I'm the only one who can solve the drakon problem."

Hunter was silent door a while, and then he sighed again. "Gods, Alex. If you weren't the son of Athena I wouldn't be agreeing to this."

"If I wasn't the son of Athena, I wouldn't be saying this." But I wasn't so sure.

I turned and began to leave.

"Hey, Alex?"

"Yeah?"

Hunter's face was unreadable. "Good luck with that drakon."

As I made my way back to Cabin Six, a raindrop stained my sleeve.

**A/N Sorry for length (and lack thereof) but I started writing this really late last night...again, thank the guests for reminding me to actually write stuff for the people who read. :) CHAPTER QUESTIONS! Where is Alex's knife? How is it raining in camp? And most importantly...WHY IS THERE MORE THAN ONE DAY LEFT TO ALLEGIANT :( :( **

**Please read and review!**


	5. Chapter 5-Fluffy Towels in Hera's Cabin

**A/N Thank for all the reviews, guys! And now, for some question–answering– **

**1. My update schedule will be iffy (I have no homework on days that don't end in y) but I'll try to throw something together every Sunday, maybe? Updates on days other than that will be a whatever–day miracle.**

**2. By the angel, Samantha, you're nearly onto me– my hint is it was Hunter who took it, but it wasn't Hunter who took it. :)**

**3. Aphrodite: Hunter's probably not going to get in the way of the ship too much, but he will get too close for comfort at times, just cuz I'm mean. :)**

**Oh and because I forgot to mention this before– the cop and the car issue is as follows:**

**Jace: *brutally slaughters a bunch of cops***

**Simon: WHY DID YOU KILL THE COPS**

**Jace:They weren't cops.**

***fifteen minutes later***

**Simon: How did they get the car then?**

**Jace: THEY WEREN'T COPS.**

**–my favorite part of the CoB movie.**

**And now...THE CHAPTER!**

Chapter 5: Fluffy Towels in the Hera Cabin

I stared blankly at the raindrop. Another hit me on my hand, and I ran my finger through the water, absentmindedly tracing an AOE in rain onto my skin. A crack of thunder permeated my thoughts, and I ran for cover. Well, more like slipped and slid for cover, because the packed–dirt floor was turning to a muddy sludge. The rain came down in sheets, and I made my way to the nearest cabin that looked like Zeus– I was fully intent on having a shouting match with the son of the lightning god about controlling powers. I rapped on the door.

Nothing.

Gritting my teeth, I tried again. And someone opened it– but definitely not who I expected.

Penny's green eyes stared out at me from behind dripping, shoulder length black hair. She pushed a section out of the way and looked at me a little longer. I started to feel a little self conscious when she burst into giggles. "What happened, Wise Boy? You look like you've been through Tartarus and back."

"Penny, why are you in the Zeus Cabin?"

"I'm not. Neither are you."

That was when I saw the peacock feathers strewn around the floor, and the statue of Hera, queenly and tall, glaring down at me from behind her.

"This is the honorary cabin, isn't it?"

Penny stepped sideways to let me in. "I've got towels. And a fire going."

"Sold."

I walked inside, and was met with the smell of fire and dust amd wetness, which does have a certain smell to it. Penny handed me a towel, and we watched the flickering light of the fire until she finally spoke.

"Why did you go to the Tyche cabin?"

Penny was trying too hard to sound casual.

I started, remembering I hadn't told her yet. "Uhhh..."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Oh, gods, what happened?"

"Nothing. I just, um, needed to ask Hunter about something." Before she could prompt me into saying more, I asked, "What are you doing in the Hera cabin?

Thunder rumbled outside, and Penny jumped a little. "I thought this was the Zeus cabin, and if this is his fault I'm blasting Dylan. Gold level. He knows I hate this."

"Hate what?"

Lightning crackled across the sky, and she closed her eyes. "The storm."

"What's wrong with a little lightning?"

She opened her eyes again, and in the firelight they looked more silvery than green. "Hecates can very literally sense the magical potential of something, Alex. A storm like this, sent from the gods...my brain's going haywire."

Rivulets of water ran down the nape pf her neck, and she shivered. Her fists were clenched and I remembered the last time I had seen that, when sparks started coming off of her...the gears in my head clicked together, and I realized that the more anxious she got, the more likely she was to electrocute herself.

Ah. That's an interesting thing to put into a conversation. "Excuse me, but if you don't get a hair dryer for calm down, you're going to die."

I lifted my slightly damp towel from the floor where it lay, and threw it over her. She lifted a corner and peeked out at me, her lips tugging upwards into a smile. "What?"

"You need this more than me."

"Alex, I've got my own over here...I put it somewhere over here, I know it.."

"Sometimes, your stubbornness is endearing." Penny began to smile more broadly at me, but then I continued. "Other times, like now, it's just plain stubborn."

She tackled me, and I was flat on my back, on the dusty, wet ground of the Hera cabin, with Penny directly above me, her hair hanging all in my face. Her green eyes shone like mischievous emeralds, and I hoped to all the gods that I wasn't smiling as idiotically as I thought I was. My towel had been thrown off to the side when she jumped, and a swirl of dust made itself into a tornado and raced by us. Penny coughed, then collapsed, her head on my chest. Something smelled of blackberries and vanilla, and my eyes stung.

I could feel her exhale. "Oww...the lightning's back."

"Still bad?"

She breathed out again, and it tickled. "Yeah, but not...not as much."

Her exhalations were becoming longer, and I knew she was falling asleep. My eyes began closing too, and I found myself speaking, once more before I closed my eyes.

"Better?"

Penny's response was laden with sleep. "Much."

**A/N I literally just wrote this up tonight, so...yeah. CHAPTER QUESTIONS: How many of you enjoyed the slight amount of fluffiness? How many of you are planning to murder me for the chapter length? And how many of you are going to wear your faction color for Allegiant tomorrow? I'm a divergent Dauntless/Amity according to the test...how will I pull that off? :) please Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 6-Quests and Demigod Dreams

**A/N Hey! Sorry for the late update..I have a Spanish test Tuesday, a Computers test Monday( which reminds me: public String independence! I JUST THOUGHT THIS WAS HILARIOUS SORRY- IT'S A DECLARATION OF INDPENDENCE! J JJ ) I have a weird mind. But I've been studying since I got out of swim an nearly forgot to post this. Okay, so…here goes! ANSWER TIME!**

**1. I would like raspberries and cake at my funeral, please. And owls. Lots of owls.**

**2. Hunter actually isn't going on anymore quests. YOU PEOPLE DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO MY PLOT NOTE SHEET OR SOMETHING**

**3. There are no ship sinking canons here :P**

**4. Yeah…on with the chapter!**

**Chapter 6: Quests and Demigod Dreams**

The smoke collected around the clearing. Just by the way that it was colored, I knew what it was- the Fog that Chiron was worried about. But behind the Fog was- The Hesperidian Drakon.

Back at camp?

No, the surroundings were different. This wasn't the Camp Half-Blood Valley. The camp was safe. But that left the rest of the mortal world in danger.

The drakon lifted its powerful wings, and still exhaling the death mist, soared overhead, blending in with the night sky. I looked around, trying to find any sign of where I was, so that even in a dream I might be able to protect any mortals- at least help the quest.

But then the screams began , and I knew I was too late.

I woke up after the storm had ended.

The sky was still grayish, but Zeus's rage had moved on to somewhere else, and the _pit pat_ the water made on the sloping side of the Hera Cabin had slowly subsided over the five minutes I had been conscious. I began to roll over- then stopped.

Oh, gods.

Where was Penny? Whe I had fallen asleep, she was right next to me... Did she leave? What if there was a monster attack and she ran out to help? What if she was in the edges of my dream, trying to fight the drakon?

What if she was sitting in the middle of the room, trying to hack a radio with magic?

Oh, right. She was.

"No." she muttered, and flicked her hand, which was glowing bright blue, to the left.

"_Today the high will be-"_

"No, not that either."

Mozart's Moonlight Sonata came on, and she swore. I sat up. "You're hand is blue."

Penny glanced up at me, the magical bubble around her turning pink, then back to periwinkle. "I hadn't noticed. Isn't my hand blue all the time?" She flicked her hand again and winced as a loud rock and roll song burst from the tiny speaker. "Ugh, no."

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to see if the Hesperidian Drakon got any farther."

"You know too?"

"In all of my dreams last night."

I shivered. "Me too."

She flicked her hand again, and a news report came on. "Shh."

_"Today we have sightings of a abnormally large bird over Hell, Michigan. Locals say it has a large wingspan and has been circling for about an hour now-"_

"YES!" Penny shouted, and motioned for the volume, but this time the little radio had exactly enough. It burst into pieces with a mechanical whine and a flurry of blue- and-orange sparks, one of which caught on the edge of Penny's bangs.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

After about five minutes of running around and trying to stop Penny from drowning herself to save her precious hair (and, of course, stamping out the spark itself) we realized that we had spent too long in the Hera cabin. The Queen of the Gods was not looking too happy with us. Also, our quest to locate, capture and bring to (hopefully) justice in front of a bunch of Hesperidian Nymphs began in about an hour.

Penny and I ran to our respective cabins and got our backpacks. I stuck my bronze knife in its new and improved back sheath, and added a couple extra smaller ones for throwing in my weapons belt. Who knows, but if I lose the bronze….

My stomach turns as I realize that Lucy gave me this one. She's under the sickness of the Fog now. And Carly Beckendorf- she's the one who made the silver-and- celestial- bronze throwing knives- both lost to the exhalation of a navy blue Hesperidian Drakon.

I shake my head. We will find the drakon, bring it to the nymphs, and make them give us the cure. Otherwise- no. There is no otherwise. There is only success.

Pack slung over shoulder, I head off to Half-Blood Hill.

When I get there, Kai and Penny are already talking. The daughter of magic smiles when she sees me. "Hey, Wise Boy. I thought it was the girls who were supposed to take longer to get ready."

"I'm sorry, but you should have seen my hair." She laughed.

I rotated my shoulder blade back, and felt the satisfying dig of a leather sheath into it. "I'm ready. Kai?"

He checked his bag. "Yeah. Penny?"

She twisted her bracelet around her wrist. "Perfect. Let's head out."

"Wait." Kai held up a hand. "Do we have a location?"

Penny flashed him a grin. "We're going to Hell."

**A/N How do you like that J I promised I would update today, and SO I HAVE! THIS IS A CAKE-DESERVING CONQUEST- you know, if I had cake. CHAPTER QUESTIONS: Am I going to fail my Comp test? (HINT THE ANSWER IS NO, YOU'LL DO FINE!) Why is Allegiant so *censored* depressing? Why do these questions have nothing at all to do with the chapter? Next time, I PROMISE IT WIL BE AT LEAST 1,500 WORDS SORRY BUT THIS ONE WAS REALLY RUSHED. THANKS! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**


	7. IMPORTANT AN

**Ok guys. Hi. NO DON'T GET SCARED AND RUN AWAYYY...**

**So, here's the deal: I've got about half off the nice, happy long chapter that I've promised you guys written, and I would post it just for happy fun reading times but that would be incredibly mean of me since I promised a long chapter and thisone is the same size as the others, except with no real conclusion. Basically, I'm skipping all the overused excuses (of which I have many, by the way) and saying the real update will replace this chapter sometime in the middle of the week. Sorry, but I really want to start upping the quality of this story like you guys are asking. **

**Thanks for waiting, and I'm sorry about the false alarm...**

**-OnAngelWings**


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